Shriven of Sin

The Penitent begins

Bless me, for I have sinned.

The Priest says

The Lord be in your heart and upon your lips that you may truly and humbly confess your sins: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Penitent

I confess to Almighty God, to his Church, and to you, that

I have sinned by my own fault in thought, word, and deed, in

things done and left undone; especially __________.  For these

and all other sins which I cannot now remember, I am truly

sorry.  I pray God to have mercy on me.  I firmly intend

amendment of life, and I humbly beg forgiveness of God and

his Church, and ask you for counsel, direction, and absolution.

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Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), the day to gather up all fats and sweets in one’s home and clear the premises of them by wolfing them down before the beginning of Lent when those things are forbidden. Shrove Tuesday is for going to confession to be sheared of one’s sins -- be assigned penance and receive absolution as penitential Lent begins.

All who wish to have their confession heard are welcome to come to me: I need to collect some bad examples for sermon material before Fr. Steve puts me back on the preaching schedule. 

We’ll celebrate at Holy Nativity with our customary pancake supper. My favorite pancake supper treat was sausage wrapped in buttered pancakes. Unfortunately tomorrow and apparently henceforth I may enjoy the pancakes but must shun the sausage or bacon. Loving either dark maple syrup or pure cane syrup on pancakes I sometimes bring my own for maximum enjoyment of the Shrove Tuesday feast. 

When I was interim rector at Grace Church ten years ago the ingredients were being assembled for the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper -- blueberries and such -- and someone asked what I like on my pancakes. Facetiously I said “anchovies” and so my pancakes that evening were cooked with anchovies. They were delicious, even better than Green Eggs and Ham. Try it, you may like it. 

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper was a festive community event at Trinity Apalachicola. Tickets were sold all over town and Benedict Hall the parish house would be packed with friends and neighbors, members and townspeople. My habit, my custom while the festivities were going on was going outside to burn palm crosses and crush them to ashes for Ash Wednesday liturgy the next morning. I remember that fondly. Giving up old habits and customs is not unlike letting go of a child who goes away to college, grows up and moves on with life: the happy memories are still available for enjoying years later. I have wonderful memories of Apalachicola and Trinity, part of my heilsgeschichte with God.

We do not have a Special Liturgy for the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday but the Old Testament reading for the day is Deuteronomy 6:16-25, which seems apt (the reference to Massah is the incident at Massah (testing) - Meribah (complaining) when the people angered God by whining that they had no water, causing Moses to get upset and sin by striking the rock instead of commanding it and by failing to glorify God for the miracle):

You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.

You should diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.

You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.

When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?' then you shall say to your son, 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today. It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.

The Word of the Lord.

TW+